Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-07-23
A Disappointing Strike.

| ktAGIdl IcdtuitC vi Ottt Inv
on the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad,
which has Just ended so disastrously
to the strikers are worthy OF notice.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers is the most conservative la
Dor organization in the country, and
the average of intelligence among
| the membersis high When strike
is ordered by portion of the men,
bership the impression is strong that
there is real grievance behind it.
1t is very dangerous to run trains
with strangers at the engines throt-
tie. No matter how skilled an en-
gineer may be, his ignorance of the
road, the stations, the trains, and
other minor local matters, may make
his knowledge useless-or, worse, a
perilous delusion. Neither are engi-
neers very plentiful, even in a large
city like Brooklyn, and in case of q
sudden strike the company must ac-
cede to the demands of the strikers
or take the responsibility of placing
the safety and lives gifts passengers
at the mercy of persons whom it
would not have employed under
other circumstances thereby incur
ring at the outset certain amount
of unpopularity which railroad COM
panies gladly avoid when it is posi-
| BILE to do so. There was, therefore, an
inherent probability that the strik-
| xx,o,,1I e.,,aanO1 h,r+ f,o Lose hot
| week they were humbly pleading to
be taken back into the company's
employ.
To be sure, the strikers made sew
eral blunders. They should have
summoned Chief Arthur, of the
brotherhood, to their aid, but he,
when placed in possession of all the
facts, would have advised them not
to strike. The paramount blurder
made by them, however, was in i'm
agining that their places could not
be filled, and that is the blunder
made by all strikers, and one which
leads to bitter but unavailing regrets
as soon as the mistake is discovered.
| No matter how skilled workingman
may be or how valuable his services;
| no matter how great may be a states
man, soldier, or divine, neither Of
them can ever make hole in the
world. Among the many millions
of restless, ambitious, toiling, push
| ing people, there will always be
found some anxious and competent
to fill any gap as soon as it is Great
ed. The Brooklyn strike had about
it more of the elements to insure
success than most Of the struggles
of that character begun by labor
against corporations but it collaps-
ed in less than a week. The warn
ing win probably not be needed.
Some fancied or real wrong will oc-
cur tomorrow or next week in New
York or some other place, and an
other strike will be ordered, to end
in the same monotonous way, with
numbers of worthy men thrown out
Of employment, and their families on
the verge of starvation
There was acomic side to the strike
which also bears a lesson. The arbi-
tration committee appointed by the
| New York legislature called upon
the railroad company and offered
their services, with the hope of doing
something to justify the large salaries
they receive from the state. The
company informed them that there
must always be two parties to an arbi-
tration, which was not the case in
this instance, as the engineers had
left the service of the corporation of
their own occord, and the company
was then filing their places as fast
as proper men could be secured. This
seemed a fair enough statement, but
the committee have ever since been
engaged in laudable effort to dis
cover why they were appointed by
the legislature and for what they
are paid $4,000 year. The gener-
al public is under the impression
that the time for arbitration is be-
fore strike is ordered, and that as
strikers seldom think of this, the
| New Yord board of arbitration is
likely to continue a Sinecure.